A Dangerous Subject
by Ishvallan
Summary: There is something dangerous in the world, and only 2 people know anything concrete about it. And they are suddenly sailing together.


All was quiet aboard the Sunny for the night. Franky was leaning on the front rail of the ship doing minor inspection of his new creation, ensuring everything was holding well to active use on the sea. The lapping of the waves masked an approach, not that the one moving in needed any cover to sneak on someone.

"Pluton," the woman said cleanly and without whisper.

Franky nearly jumped out of his skin but within a hair of time the startle turned to even graver concern.

The two knew nothing about each other but that both were wanted by the government and that they were part of the same crew now.

"I get the feeling we're not gonna mince words or pretend not to know anything?" Franky asked the mysterious woman, lifting the sunglasses he wore at night.

"You had the plans, that is why CP9 captured you."

"And what of it? They're destroyed and that's all that matters."

"They're not destroyed. You know them. How well?"

"I don't actually. Iceberg said old man Tom never wanted us to even look at them unless it was absolutely necessary to build the ship. From the day I got those schematics, I never saw anything but the front page."

"I still don't believe you. Why would you have them on your person? The plans Iceberg had were a decoy, why should anyone believe that what you destroyed wasn't also a decoy?"

"Don't believe me if you want, they were the genuine article. As soon as they came for me, I knew they would be found one way or another. There isn't anywhere to hide them that they'd be safe. I knew I'd have to destroy them before it all played out at Enies Lobby. Things just turned out better for both of us than we expected."

This stunned Robin. She was sure that he would say they were hidden somewhere safe, or even pull the real documents from a hidden compartment on his body or in the Sunny. She wasn't expecting it to be gone.

"What do you want to know that for? We have a super ship right here, we don't need anything with that kind of damage." Franky patted the rail of his ship like a beloved pet.

"Because I know where it is. At least where it should be."

"What do you mean? That ship has been lost forever. If anyone knew where it was, it would be the Marines and they would be using it instead of the Buster Call."

"I am the only person in the world who knows where it is. It was on a poneglyph I read several weeks ago."

"Oh yeah, that Spam Ham guy said you could read those. So if you know where it is, why do you want to know about the plans?" Franky grew concerned that something was about to go sideways quickly. All he knew about this woman was her bounty which dwarfed most of the crew's, that a top government espionage and assassination organization wanted her dead, and that she was now asking some very dangerous questions claiming more dangerous knowledge.

"Because it can be found. It has been centuries and the ship likely cannot function, but if it is found it would take little effort to engineer a replica. Your plans won't even be necessary unless the ship has somehow been destroyed or moved over the centuries. And if that happens, you mentioned yourself the damage that one ship could do instead of mobilizing a fleet."

"What are you planning to do with that knowledge, Robin? I've been honest with you, now you come clean with me. What are you planning?" Franky wanted to prepare a weapon, but knew if he tried she would be faster and more capable of ending him before he could fire a shot or raise an alarm.

"I'm planning nothing. I'm terrified of that ship ever coming to the light of day again. If the plans truly are gone, then I can only hope that 700 years is enough time to destroy a battleship."

"Well if its that old, even a ship of Adam wood like the sunny might deteriorate unless someone maintained it and replaced its parts. It would take generations of shipwrights dedicated to hiding and preserving it."

"That is some relief, but I cannot believe that we will never see that ship. I dread whose hands it will fall into."

"And if someone does find it, I made it so we will never have the fire power to oppose it." Franky suddenly felt a knot in his cola cooler. Long a shot as it was, he now also feared the future.

"Robin, where is it? Maybe if we find it first it can be destroyed."

"Nowhere we can reach for a very long time. Those who hid the ship hid the keys very far from the lock. The greater threat is the titanic threats who pass it by and never notice it is there. If they had known what it was, any of them could have used it by now."

"So that doesn't tell us what we DO! This is bad, Robin, the Government will still hunt me thinking I know the plans, and if they ever find out you know where it is, they might send a bigger force than we can handle or escape after us."

"I have no idea. We may not be able to do anything. Either it will be found before we can reach it, or it will not and we can deal with it in the future. Until then, there is nothing we can do from this ship."

"Well, I worried about staying up for the watch through the night, but now I don't know if I'll be able to sleep when the night is over."

"Me either, Cyborg-san, could we try to talk about something else? I don't think we will get anywhere continuing to discuss this now."

The two stayed together through the night becoming properly acquainted. Tragic backstories were exchanged, tears were cried, the sailing course was corrected a few times after remembering that Franky was on night watch and supposed to be steering them straight ahead. When the sun rose a bit from the horizon Sanji came from the boys' cabin below decks to prepare breakfast, Zoro climbed to the Crow's Nest to begin training, and Robin decided to go to the nest as well. Franky failed to even notice her destination or he may have gotten some scandelous thoughts about his new crew mates. But for now, Robin just needed to be alone, but together with someone who wouldn't pry.


End file.
